


Bitter Days Better with You

by 30Love



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: 30lovechallenge, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, a bit of bitterness, after the events of the prologue of the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-29 15:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5132993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/30Love/pseuds/30Love
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like the bitterness of coffee, some facts of life are hard to swallow, but with a bit of milk and sugar, things become a bit easier. Some reminiscing of the better times after Hannah and Beth's funeral service.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitter Days Better with You

**Author's Note:**

> This work is for a challenge I started on Tumblr called The 30 Love Challenge - create 30 pieces of SamxJosh fanfiction/art/other media. Feel free to join.

The room was pulsating with silence. Neither brave enough to speak quite yet.

Sam leaned forward in the loveseat she sat on and took a sip of her coffee, then cleared her throat and set it back down.

A mumbled voice barely above a whisper, came from Josh, sitting in a chair to her left. “What’re you thinking about...?” He sounded unsure about asking it, even as it left his mouth.

The blonde took a moment to let the question simmer in her mind. She looked over at Josh who seemed to shrink into himself; he looked so small. She placed a hand on his shaking ones.

Sam cleared her throat again, hoping to chase away the lump that had been rooted there since the end of the service.

She hoped her voice would come out even and controlled despite it. “H-Hannah and Be-eth.” It didn’t.

Her voice croaked and warbled and the moment she heard it, tears began making tracks down her face. She brought a hand to her mouth to help muffle her sobs.

If possible, Josh seemed to get smaller and his shoulders began to silently shake. He brought his knees to his chest, feet planted firmly on the plush chair, and he tucked his head down, shielding his face from view.

Sam took a few deep breaths and stared out of the window, apparently deep in thought, a couple of shuddering puffs of air escaping her lips. She still had one of Josh’s hands in hers and she was stroking it with her thumb methodically, as if trying to receive some sort of strength from it.

More silence.

Then a chuckle tumbled out of Sam’s mouth. Josh popped his head up, looking at her in surprise. His face was red and puffy and his eyes were misty.

Her chuckle morphed into a laugh, not yet completely masking her undertones of crying, but still bubbling to the surface nonetheless.

“What?” Josh questioned bitterly. “What could you possibly find to laugh about right now?”

Sam tore her eyes from the window to look at Josh again, a crooked smile on her face.

“Remember that one time?” She began, “When Beth found those videos on YouTube? The ones where people were doing challenges and she wanted us to try them?”

Josh seemed to perk up, bringing his free hand to his cheek and palming the tears away. A half-smirk wormed its way onto his features and a light, short laugh puffed from his nose.

“There was the cinnamon challenge. And she was so sure the videos were fake, like some kind of conspiracy. Like there was no way it was that hard. And she made us all do it.” Sam started to smooth her thumb across the back of Josh’s hand a bit more firmly. She felt his fingers curl into hers.

Josh continued, “And when we did it, her face went from super sure of herself to downright panic, and she puked. We all did.” He laughed again, a bit stronger. “Well, except Hannah. I still can’t believe she managed to get it down. Kudos.”

Sam giggled, “I had always been meaning to tell you, but Hannah dumped her spoon before she put it in her mouth. She tricked you guys. I remember Beth kept bugging her for weeks about how she did it, but she told me.” She stopped stroking his hand and just held it, finding comfort in the way he held hers back.

“Man, I never knew...” Josh let out a long, suffering sigh. “God, I miss them so much.” 

Sam gave the hand in hers a gentle squeeze.

A pause. Another stretch of silence.

“Do you also remember that one time when we all went to the mall on Christmas Eve?” Josh resumed.

Sam smiled and nodded, settling more solidly into her seat. She loved this memory.

For the rest of the day and into the night, the two swapped their favorite stories about the girls. Some happy and silly, others not so much. But it was cathartic, and by the end of it all, their drinks sat chilled on the coffee table and Josh had moved to be on the loveseat with Sam.

The softness of the arm of the loveseat cradled her back, and his head rested against her stomach. Her arms were draped over his shoulders and she could feel his chest underneath her palms slowly rise and fall to his more relaxed breaths. Sam’s feet barely reached the other end of the small couch, but Josh had to dangle his legs over the other arm, bent at the knee. It was cramped but cozy.

Josh was quietly mumbling another story, sleep in his voice, when it slowly tapered off. He wriggled a bit, getting comfortable, and a contented sigh breezed from his nose.

Sam smiled and clung a bit tighter to him as she too settled in to go to sleep.

Through the tender silence, Josh’s voice, softened by tiredness, cut in, “Thanks, Sam... for being here.”

She gave a light squeeze to his shoulders, pushed herself forward a bit, and curled her head down, planting a feather-light kiss on the crown of his head. “I’ll always be here for you,” she whispered into his hair.

Sam returned to her original position, leaning back again into the arm of the chair, and slowly fell asleep, coaxed there by the leisurely stroking of Josh’s thumb on her hand.


End file.
